Blog
Head of BHF Northern Ireland: Supporting people who need us most
There are around 225,000 people in Northern Ireland living with a heart or circulatory condition. They are at the centre of everything we do - whether that is funding local research, lobbying for policy change at the Northern Ireland Executive, or collaborating with local NHS partners to help improve the lives of people in our communities.
Undoubtedly, coronavirus has brought with it many challenges but this focus of helping improve and save lives has remained at the heart of what we do.
That is why the BHF’s new Patients First programme is such a natural response to the current crisis and one we are working hard to ensure those 225,000 NI people are aware of.
As the world starts to unlock we are acutely aware that many people with heart and circulatory conditions are still in the most vulnerable category and count themselves among the estimated 80,000 people in Northern Ireland who will need to continue to shield.
For them our continued help and support is vital. It is something as a team we keep at the forefront of our minds and drives us forward during these unsettling times.
Practical patient support
Two of the major strengths of the Patients First programme are that it recognises that people are understandably worried about how Covid-19 impacts on their heart health and in a direct response to that the programme offers practical support and information to help ease those concerns during an already anxious time.I have been heartened by how our local Health Service Engagement team has intuitively adapted to collaborate with BHF colleagues and other health professionals. They have helped establish and deliver the three main pillars of Patients First; our Heart Helpline, the coronavirus web pages and the Cardiac Rehabilitation at Home hub.
Heart Helpline
With access to GPs and other medical professionals under extreme stress, BHF cardiac nurses rose to the challenge of answering more than double the amount of calls and emails from those concerned about their cardiac health on our Heart Helpline.I’m proud to say that our HSE team members Karen McCammon and Craig Moore were among those who rallied to man this invaluable resource and help ease people’s concerns.
Coronavirus hub
Never before has it been so important that accurate, up-to-date information has been made available to our local people. With so much unsubstantiated information emerging on various social media platforms it was vital that concerned patients and their families have an information and support hub that delivered clarity not confusion.
Thanks to collaboration across BHF directorates our coronavirus web pages have quickly become a reliable source of relevant information.
The figures speak for themselves with the online Covid-19 pages have had 1.5m hits.
Cardiac Rehab at Home
Cardiac rehabilitation programmes are associated with a reduction in mortality of around 25%. But with rehabilitation classes cancelled due to lockdown the recovery of heart patients was at risk. This made it all the more inspiring to witness the speed at which the HSE teams across the nations came together to plug this gap in services to help deliver our Cardiac Rehab at Home programme.Once again, patients had a useful resource in their hour of need. As this hub continues to develop I look forward to seeing some great grassroots collaboration between our HSE NI team and senior consultant cardiologist Dr Susan Connolly, from Western Health and Social Services Trust, coming to fruition.
Getting the message out there
With the cornerstones of the Patients First programme in place we quickly recognised that communication was key to letting people know these resources existed.In response our NI team created online video content presented by NI’s HSE Clinical Development Coordinator Craig Moore, local ambassadors, supporters and I signposting the wider public to the practical resources of the Patients First programme. These have been well received by our online audience and have been a useful tool in getting our Patients First message out to the media.
We have also engaged with local authorities that has resulted in almost half of Northern Ireland’s councils, the Public Health Agency (PHA) and many politicians posting on social media about the BHF’s website resources.
This online engagement has reinforced our firm commitment to deliver for local people within our communities.
The future
It is in the BHF’s DNA to improve and save lives. The Patients First programme allows us to do that by offering support to those who need our help most during this crisis.There’s an old expression that you can curse the dark or light a candle - I think the BHF has lit a candle.
What Covid-19 means for your heart